Notes

Author of Recollections of Virginia, by Maury, Dabney Herndon,
1822-1900. Electronic Edition.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/maury/maury.html.
"At the age of seventeen I entered the University of Virginia,
and enjoyed the life of freedom from home surveillance, and the
great pleasure of association with men well reared and educated,
matured in their purposes, and studying earnestly in the fine
professional schools which then, as now, were recognized as
among the highest in the country. Johnson Barbour, Randolph
Tucker, Robert Withers, John S. Barbour, Stage Davis, Winter
Davis, Hunter Marshall, George Randolph, Confederate Secretary
of War, Honorable Volney E. Howard, R. L. Dabney, and many
another who made his mark in life and has gone over the river,
were there then."

"Dabney Herndon Maury was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on
May 21, 1822. Following the death of his father, he and his
brother were raised by their uncle, Matthew Fontaine Maury
(Confederate naval commander and the "Pathfinder of the Seas").
After graduating from the University of Virginia and studying
law, which he did not find to his liking, Maury enrolled at West
Point. He distinguished himself with one brevet during the
Mexican War (where a musket ball shattered his left arm,
crippling it permanently) and then returned to West Point, where
he served as an instructor for five years.
When the War Between the States began, Maury was serving as an
assistant adjutant general of the Department of New Mexico on
the frontier. He turned in his resignation early in May of 1861
but was discharged from the U.S. Army on May 25 for "treasonable
designs." Maury returned east to Richmond, where he was given
commissions as a captain of cavalry in the Confederate Army, a
colonel of cavalry in Virginia's forces, and a lieutenant
colonel in the provisional army. He served on the staff of Major
General Theophilus Holmes until February of 1862, when he was
given the rank of colonel and sent to the Trans-Mississippi
Department to become chief of staff for Major General Earl Van
Dorn. Maury spent the War in the Western theatre, taking part in
the battles of Pea Ridge, Iuka, and Corinth.

In April of 1863, Jefferson Davis sent Maury to Knoxville to
take command of the Department of East Tennessee. Two weeks
later, he was ordered to Mobile, Alabama, to replace Major
General Simon Bolivar Buckner as commander of the District of
the Gulf, where he remained until the end of the War.

Maury returned to his native Virginia after the War and opened
the Classical and Mathematical Academy for boys in
Fredericksburg. When he tired of teaching, he relocated to New
Orleans, Louisiana, where he became an express agent and
eventually ran a naval stores manufacturing company. In 1868, he
founded the Southern Historical Society, which he served as
chairman for 20 years. During his tenure, he made available to
the U.S. War Records Office all of the Society's extensive
holdings (the War Records Office returned the favor). The fruits
of Maury's labors -- the Southern Historical Society Papers --
today provide a wealth of knowledge for serious researchers and
amateur historians alike.

In 1885, Maury was appointed U.S. minister to Colombia, a post
he held until 1889. He returned to the States at the end of his
term and lived with his son in Peoria, Illinois, until his death
on January 11, 1900. He is buried in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr., writing in The Confederate General,
says of Maury: One of Maury's men remembered him as "'every inch
a soldier,' but then there were not many inches of him. The
soldiers called him 'puss in boots' because half of his
diminutive person seemed lost in a pair of immense cavalry
boots. He was a wise and gallant officer."
http://users.erols.com/kfraser/confederate/officers/maury-exp.htm
l.

"Major-General Dabney Herndon Maury was born at Fredericksburg,
Va., May 20, 1822, the son of Capt. John Minor Maury, United
States navy, whose wife was the daughter of Fontaine Maury. His
descent is from the old Virginia families of Brooke and Minor,
and the Huguenot emigrees, the Fontaines and Maurys. He was
educated at the classical school of Thomas Harrison,
Fredericksburg, studied law at the university of Virginia, and
was graduated at West Point in 1846, with the rank of brevet
second lieutenant in the mounted rifles. A theater for active
service in his profession was awaiting him in Mexico, where he
was at once ordered. He conducted himself with soldierly valor
in this war, particularly at the siege of Vera Cruz and the
battle of Cerro Gordo, where he was severely wounded, and
received the brevet of first lieutenant for gallantry. In
further recognition of his services he was presented with a
sword by the citizens of Fredericksburg and the legislature of
Virginia. For several years subsequent to the Mexican war he was
detailed for service at the United States military academy,
first as assistant professor of geography, history and ethics,
and afterward as assistant professor of infantry tactics. In
1852 he was transferred to frontier duty in Texas in which he
continued, with promotion to first lieutenant mounted rifles,
until 1858, when he was appointed superintendent of the cavalry
school at Carlisle, Pa. From April 15, 1860, until the outbreak
of the Confederate war he was assistant adjutant-general, with
the rank of brevet captain, in New Mexico. He promptly acted
with his State in 1861, and was commissioned captain, corps of
cavalry, C. S. A., to date from March 16th. Subsequently he was
promoted colonel, was appointed adjutant-general of the army at
Manassas, and when Gen. Earl Van Dorn was assigned to command
the Trans-Mississippi department, early in 1862, he became his
chief of staff and adjutant-general. In his report of the battle
of Elkhorn Tavern, General Van Dorn wrote: "Colonel Maury was of
invaluable service to me both in preparing for and during the
battle. Here, as on other battlefields where I have served with
him, he proved to be a zealous patriot and true soldier; cool
and calm under all circumstances, he was always ready, either
with his sword or pen. " Maury was promptly promoted
brigadier-general. He accompanied Van Dorn to the consultation
with A. S. Johnston and Beauregard at Corinth previous to the
battle of Shiloh, and subsequently was transferred with the main
Confederate force east of the Mississippi, where his service was
afterward given. When Price took command of the army of the West
at Tupelo, he commanded one of its two divisions, including the
brigades of John C. Moore, W. L. Cabell and C. W. Phifer, and
the cavalry of F. C. Armstrong. Little of Maryland, commanding
the other division, fell at Iuka, where Maury was held in
reserve, and afterward served as rear guard, repelling pursuit.
About a fortnight later he commanded the center in the battle of
Corinth, against Rosecrans, and gallantly engaged the enemy, who
was driven from his entrenchments and through the town. During
the subsequent retirement he defended the rear, fighting
spiritedly at Hatchie's bridge. He was promoted major-general in
November, 1862, and on December 30th, arrived before Vicksburg
from Grenada, to support S. D. Lee, who had repulsed Sherman's
attack at Chickasaw bayou, and was assigned to command of the
right wing. He continued in service here, his troops being
engaged at Steele's bayou and in the defeat of the Yazoo Pass
expedition, until he was ordered to Knoxville, April 15th, to
take command of the department of East Tennessee. A month later
he was transferred to the command of the district of the Gulf.
In this region, with headquarters at Mobile, he continued to
serve until the end of the war. During the siege of Atlanta, in
command of reserve troops, he operated in defense of the Macon
road. In August, i864, in spite of a gallant struggle, the
defenses of Mobile bay were taken, and in March and April, 1865,
Maury, with a garrison about 9,000 strong, defended the city
against the assaults of Canby's army of 45,000 until, after
heavy loss, he retired without molestation to Meridian. But the
war was now practically over, and on May 4th, his forces were
included in the general capitulation of General Taylor.
Subsequently he made his home at Richmond, Va. He has given many
valuable contributions to the history of the war period, and in
1868 organized the Southern historical society, the collections
of which he opened to the government war records office,
securing in return free access to that department by
ex-Confederates. In 1878 he was a leader in the movement for the
reorganization of the volunteer troops of the nation, and until
1880 served as a member of the executive committee of the
National Guard association of the United States. In i886 he was
appointed United States minister to Columbia, a position he held
until June 22, 1889. Since then he has been occupied in literary
pursuits, being the author of a school history of Virginia, and
other works."
Confederate Military History, Vol. III, pp.636-638